Blender

ABSTRACT

A blender includes a blender body including an external cylinder, a grinding blade, and a blade driving portion rotating the grinding blade; an internal cylinder unit including an internal cylinder, disposed in the external cylinder, in which the grinding blade is disposed, and an internal cylinder driving portion rotating the internal cylinder; and a controller electrically connected to the blade driving portion and the internal cylinder driving portion to control the blade driving portion and the internal cylinder driving portion. The internal cylinder has an internal side surface on which a projection is formed such that blending objects, flowing rotationally while being ground by the grinding blade, are caught. A mixer according to the present invention comprises: a mixer main body provided with an outer container, pulverizing blades, and a blade driving unit for rotating the pulverizing blades; an inner container unit provided with an inner container, arranged inside the outer container, having the pulverizing blades located therein, and with an inner container driving unit for rotating the inner container; and a controller electrically connected to the blade driving unit and inner container driving unit to control both, wherein the inner container is provided with a protruding part on the inner side surface thereof so that the circularly moving foodstuff being mixed gets caught thereon while being pulverized by the pulverizing blades, and, in order to induce a state of imbalance in the foodstuff being mixed in the inner container, the controller controls the inner container driving unit to mix the foodstuff being mixed while repeating the patterns of reverse-rotating the inner container in the direction opposite to the rotational direction of the pulverizing blades and then stopping, or reverse-rotating and then changing the rotational velocity.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a blender, and more particularly, to ablender for grinding blending objects including fruits, vegetables, andthe like.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, a blender is an electric appliance including a container (acup), in which blending objects are accommodated, and a bodyaccommodating a motor.

The container is formed of hard heat-resistant glass, synthetic resin,or stainless steel. In a lower internal portion of the container,grinding blades of stainless steel are mounted on a driving unit toengage therewith.

In addition, as the motor accommodated in the body rotates at highspeed, the blender has been widely used domestically to cut and grindblending objects including fruits, vegetables, and the like, as well asto produce juice from the blending objects.

As the grinding blades of the blender rotate unidirectionally, or rotateunidirectionally for a certain time, even when the grinding bladesrotate bidirectionally, blending objects are radially pushed outwardlyby centrifugal force to significantly reduce a grinding effect and ajuice producing effect.

In addition, even during grinding of the blending objects, juice shouldbe extracted using an additional juice extractor to produce and drinkthe juice, which leads to inconvenience.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

An aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a blender havingimproved grinding performance of blending objects.

Technical Solution

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a blender includes: ablender body including an external cylinder, a grinding blade, and ablade driving portion rotating the grinding blade; an internal cylinderunit including an internal cylinder, disposed in the external cylinder,in which the grinding blade is disposed, and an internal cylinderdriving portion rotating the internal cylinder; and a controllerelectrically connected to the blade driving portion and the internalcylinder driving portion to control the blade driving portion and theinternal cylinder driving portion. The internal cylinder has an internalside surface on which a projection is formed such that blending objects,flowing rotationally while being ground by the grinding blade, arecaught. The controller controls the internal cylinder driving portion toblend the blending objects while repeating an operating pattern, inwhich the internal cylinder rotates reversely in a direction opposing arotation direction of the grinding blade and is then stopped, or anoperating pattern, in which the internal cylinder rotates reversely andthen changes rotational speed, to break a state of balance of theblending objects in the internal cylinder.

Advantageous Effects

As set forth above, in a blender according to a blender, a controllermay change a rotation direction of an internal cylinder, or may controlan internal cylinder driving portion to blend blending objects whilerepeatedly performing an operating pattern in which the internalcylinder rotates in a reverse direction opposing a rotation direction ofa grinding blade and is then stopped, or an operating pattern in whichthe internal cylinder rotates in the reverse direction and then changesrotational speed. Thus, an irregular flow of the blending objects may beachieved, so that the blending objects may not be piled up like a wallon an internal side surface of the internal cylinder and may return tothe grinding blade rotating in a central portion of the internalcylinder. As a result, grinding performance may be significantlyimproved.

For example, the blender according to the present disclosure may beconfigured to achieve the irregular flow of the blending objects. Thus,the blender may break down the blending objects maintained like a wallon the internal side surface of the internal cylinder to ultimatelyimprove grinding performance for the blending objects.

Furthermore, in the blender according to the present disclosure, theprojection having a screw projection line shape inducing a downwardspiral flow of the blending object may be provided on the internal sidesurface of the internal cylinder 210 such that the blending objects flowdownwardly while rotating in a direction opposing the rotationaldirection of the grinding blade. Thus, the blending objects, flowingupwardly while being radially pushed by centrifugal force, may flow tothe grinding blade disposed on a lower side of the internal cylinder. Asa result, a grinding effect of the blender may be further increased.

In the blender according to the present disclosure, a guide portion maybe formed below a projection, disposed in a side direction of a grindingblade, to guide blending objects to a center of an internal cylinder (arotational cylinder). Thus, the blending objects may be prevented frombeing caught between the grinding blade and the projection, so thatrotation of the grinding blade may be prevented from being stopped atthe beginning of operation of the blender.

In addition, the blender according to the present disclosure may have astructure in which the projection is tilted in a rotational direction ofan internal cylinder (a rotational cylinder) while protruding from theinternal side surface of the internal cylinder to the center of theinternal cylinder. Due to the structure, holding force to hold theblending objects may be further increased when the internal cylinderrotates in a direction opposing the grinding blade. Thus, an action ofreverse rotation of the blending objects may be further stronglyperformed.

A blender according to another embodiment may have a structure in whicha gear-coupled structure of an internal cylinder connection portionvaries such that an internal cylinder may have different rotationalspeeds during grinding and dehydration of the blending objects, or maybe provided with a plurality of internal cylinder driving motors.Accordingly, a torque is increased while decreasing reverse rotationalspeed of the internal cylinder. Thus, among blending objects rotating ina forward direction due to forward rotation of the grinding blade,blending objects close to the internal side surface of the internalcylinder may smoothly rotate in a reverse direction. In addition, duringdehydration of the ground blending objects, the rotational speed of theinternal cylinder maybe increased to be as high as possible, as comparedwith during grinding of the blending objects, to significantly increasethe dehydration effect.

A blender according to another embodiment may include a pressing memberconfigured to press an internal cylinder driving shaft until agear-coupled structure of an internal cylinder driving connectionportion is variably completed. When gear teeth of gears do not engagewith each other in spite of axial movement of the internal cylinderdriving shaft, the internal cylinder driving shaft maybe continuouslypressed in an axial direction until the gear-coupled structure isvariably completed. Thus, the gear teeth may ultimately engage with eachother while rotating the gear, allowing the gear-coupled structure ofthe internal cylinder connection portion to be completely variable.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the inside of a blender according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of portion ‘A’ of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an internal cylinder of theblender of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating that the internal cylinder of FIG. 3rotates in forward and reverse directions.

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating rotational directions of an internalcylinder and grinding blade and a flow direction of a blending object.

FIGS. 6 to 8 illustrate time-dependent results of grinding blendingobjects by a blender according to the present disclosure and blendersaccording to the first related art and the second related art.

FIG. 9 is a view illustrating a time-dependent operating pattern for aninternal cylinder and grinding blade according to the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a view illustrating that a blending object is caught betweena grinding blade and a projection to cause the grinding blade to bestopped.

FIGS. 11 and 12 are views illustrating an internal cylinder according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a view illustrating an upper surface of the internal cylinderaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a view illustrating an upper portion of the blender of FIG.1.

FIG. 15 is a view illustrating internal cylinders according to otherembodiments of the present disclosure, respectively.

FIG. 16 is a view illustrating a blender according to another embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is a view illustrating the inside of the blender of FIG. 5.

FIGS. 18 and 19 are views illustrating operating states of an internalcylinder driving unit in the blender in FIG. 17.

FIGS. 20 and 21 are views illustrating operating states of an internalcylinder driving unit according to another embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 22 is a view illustrating the inside according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure, in the blender of FIG. 16.

FIGS. 23 and 24 are views illustrating operating states of an internalcylinder driving unit in the blender of FIG. 22.

FIG. 25 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a blenderaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 26 is a view illustrating an internal cylinder, an internalcylinder cover, and an internal cylinder rotation shaft in the blenderof FIG. 25.

FIG. 27 is a longitudinal sectional view of a blender according toanother embodiment of the present disclosure.

BEST MODE FOR INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the inside of a blender according to anembodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view ofportion ‘A’ of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating an internal cylinder of theblender of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a view illustrating that the internalcylinder of FIG. 3 rotates in forward and reverse directions.

Referring to the drawings, a blender according to the present disclosuremay include a blender body 100, an internal cylinder unit 200, and acontroller (not illustrated).

The blender body 100 may include an external cylinder 110, grindingblade 120, and a blade driving portion 130.

Specifically, the external cylinder 110 may be a cylinder in which aninternal cylinder 210 of the internal cylinder unit 200 is disposed, mayhave a structure in which an upper portion thereof is open upward, andmay be configured to be opened or closed by an external cover 140.

The grinding blade 120 may be disposed inside the internal cylinder 210,and may serve to grind blending objects in the external cylinder 110while rotating. In this case, the blending objects refer to foods to beground by an operation of the blender.

The blade driving portion 130 may be configured to provide driving forceto rotate the grinding blade 120, and may include a blade rotation shaft131 and a blade driving motor M1. In this case, the blade rotation shaft131 may be connected to the grinding blade 120 in a vertical direction,and the blade driving motor M1 may be connected to the blade rotationshaft 131. For example, the blade rotation shaft 131 may be connected toa central portion of the grinding blade 120, disposed in a transversedirection, to extend in a longitudinal direction. In addition, the bladerotation shaft 131 may connect the grinding blade 120 and the bladedriving motor M1 to each other to transmit rotation driving force to thegrinding blade 120 such that the grinding blade 120 is rotationallydriven when the blade driving motor M1 operates.

The internal cylinder unit 200 may include an internal cylinder 210 andan internal cylinder driving portion 220.

The internal cylinder 210 may be disposed inside the external cylinder110, and a projection 211 may be formed on an internal side surface ofthe internal cylinder 210 such that blending objects, rotating andflowing while being ground by the grinding blade 120, are caught.

For reference, the term “internal cylinder” used in the presentspecification refers to a rotary cylinder and a structure, includingsuch an internal cylinder and a projection and a guide portion to bedescribed later, refers to a cylinder structure for a blender.

The internal cylinder driving portion 220 may be connected to theinternal cylinder 210 to serve to rotate the internal cylinder 210, andmay be provided independently of the blade driving portion 130 forrotationally driving the grinding blade 120.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, the internal cylinder drivingunit and the blade driving unit may be implemented by a single drivingunit. In this case, the driving unit may serve as an internal cylinderdriving unit for driving an internal cylinder or a blade driving unitfor driving grinding blade using a driving force transmission mediumsuch a clutch.

The controller (not illustrated) may be electrically connected to theblade driving portion 130 and the internal cylinder driving portion 220to serve to control the blade driving portion 130 and the internalcylinder driving portion 220.

In an existing blender, grinding blade rotate in only one direction, sothat blending objects continuously rotate within a blender cylinder inonly one direction. Since the blending objects are maintained like awall in the state of being pushed out to a side of an internal sidesurface of the blender and do not return to the grinding blade, grindingperformance may be significantly reduced.

Even in an existing blender, projections may be formed on an internalwall of a blender cylinder to create a certain degree of vortex in theblending objects. However, this is also implemented as a flow having aregular pattern, so that the blending objects are not well ground.

Accordingly, to create an irregular flow of blending objects, theblender according to the present disclosure may control the internalcylinder driving portion 220 to blend the blending objects whilechanging a rotational direction of the internal cylinder 210, asillustrated in FIG. 4.

As a specific embodiment, the controller may control the blade drivingportion (130 in FIG. 2) and the internal cylinder driving portion (220in FIG. 2) such that the grinding blade 120 and the internal cylinder210 rotate in opposing directions.

In this case, the controller may allow the internal cylinder drivingportion 220 to be repeatedly powered on and off. Thus, when the internalcylinder driving portion 220 is powered off, the internal cylinder 210may rotate in a forward direction with no power and then rotate in areverse direction in conjunction with rotational force of the blendingobjects generated by the grinding blade 120.

For example, the controller may repeatedly power on and off the internalcylinder driving portion 220 while controlling the blade driving portion130 and the internal cylinder driving portion 220 such that the grindingblade 120 and the internal cylinder 210 rotate in opposing directions.Thus, when the internal cylinder driving portion 220 is powered on, theinternal cylinder 210 may rotate in a reverse direction (in a directionopposing a rotational direction of the grinding blade). Meanwhile, whenthe internal cylinder driving portion 220 is powered off, rotationalspeed of the internal cylinder 210 may be gradually decreased while theinternal cylinder 210 inertially rotates with no power, and then theinternal cylinder 210 may be guided by the rotational force of theblending objects, generated by the grinding blade 120, to rotate in aforward direction (in the same direction as the rotational direction ofthe grinding blade 120).

In other words, only when the controller powers on the internal cylinderdriving portion 220, the internal cylinder 210 may receive the drivingforce from the internal cylinder driving portion 220 to rotate in thereverse direction. Meanwhile, when the controller powers off theinternal cylinder driving portion 220, the internal cylinder 210 may notreceive power from the internal cylinder driving portion 220, and thus,may internally rotate and then rotate in the forward direction inconjunction with the rotational force of the blending objects.

In particular, to break a state of balance of the blending objects inthe internal cylinder 210, the controller may control the internalcylinder driving portion 220 to blend the blending objects whilerepeatedly performing an operating pattern in which the internalcylinder 210 rotates in a reverse direction opposing the rotationaldirection of the grinding blade 120 and then stopped, or an operatingpattern in which the internal cylinder 210 rotates in the reversedirection and then changes rotational speed.

In another embodiment, although not illustrated in the drawings, theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 may include a DC motor and aswitch circuit, or an AC motor and an inverter, allowing the internalcylinder 210 to rotate forward or reverse with the driving force of theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 under the control of thecontroller.

For example, as the switch circuit or the inverter of the internalcylinder driving portion 220 is used, the internal cylinder 210 mayreceive the driving force from the internal cylinder driving portion 220to be driven and rotated not only when the internal cylinder 210 rotatesin a reverse direction under the control of the controller but also whenthe internal cylinder 210 rotates in a forward direction under thecontrol of the controller.

As described above, in the blender according to the present disclosure,the controller may control the internally cylinder driving portion 220to blend blending objects while changing a rotational direction of theinternal cylinder 210. In particular, the internal cylinder drivingportion 220 may be repeatedly powered on and off to implement a changein rotation of the internal cylinder 210, in which the internal cylinder210 rotates in a reverse direction for a certain period of time and isthen stopped, and rotates again in the reverse direction for a certainperiod of time and is then stopped. Thus, as the state of balance of theblending objects may be broken, the blending objects are not piled up onan internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 but may return tothe rotating grinding blades 120 in the central portion of the internalportion of the internal cylinder to significantly improve grindingperformance.

That is, the blender according to the present disclosure may beconfigured to break the state of balance of the blending objects. Thus,the blending objects maintained like a wall on the internal side surfaceof the internal cylinder 210 may be pulled down to ultimately improvegrinding performance for the blending objects.

Specifically, the blending objects are moved to the internal sidesurface of the internal cylinder 210 by the centrifugal force generatedby the rotation of the grinding blade 120 during blending of theblending objects. In this case, when a force balance between particlesof the blending objects is maintained, the internal cylinder 210 may notbe moved and may be then stopped. Accordingly, the blending objects maynot be moved to the grinding blade 120, and thus, may not be ground anylonger.

The force balance between the particles of the blending objects may bechanged such that there may be a state of unbalance by changing therotational direction of the internal cylinder 210 in the blender or byrepeatedly performing an operating pattern in which the internalcylinder 210 rotates in a reverse direction and is then stopped, or anoperating pattern in which the internal cylinder 210 rotates in areverse direction and then changes rotational speed, so that theparticles may flow again. While the particles flow, the blending objectsmay be moved to the grinding blade 120 to be continuously ground.

In addition, the blender according to the present disclosure may furtherimprove a grinding effect of the blending object due to a structure ofshape of the projections 211 when the blade driving portion 130 and theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 rotate the grinding blade 120 andthe internal cylinder 210 in opposing directions under the condition inwhich the grinding blade 120 is disposed inside the internal cylinder210 or, in particular, when repeatedly performing an operating patternin which the internal cylinder 210 rotates in a reverse direction and isthen stopped or an operating pattern in which the internal cylinder 210rotates in a reverse direction and then changes rotational speed.

Specifically, the projection 211 may have a screw projection line shape,inducing a downward spiral flow of the blending objects, such that theblending objects flow downwardly while rotating in a direction opposingthe rotational direction of the grinding blade 120.

Hereinafter, the flow of the blending objects, flowing rotationally inone direction due to the grinding blade 120, will be described. Thegrinding blade 120 is disposed in a lower portion of the internalcylinder 210, so that the blending objects may pushed out to theinternal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 and then may rise upalong the internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 when thegrinding blade 120 rotate. Accordingly, the blending objects, flowingupward while receiving centrifugal force, may barely flow to thegrinding blade 120 disposed in the lower portion of the internalcylinder 210.

Accordingly, when the grinding blade 120 and the internal cylinder 210rotate in opposing directions in order for the flowing blending objectsto flow to the grinding blade 120 disposed in a lower portion of theinternal cylinder 210, the projections 211 may have a shape of a screwprojection line such that the blending objects flow downwardly whilerotating in a direction opposing the rotational direction of thegrinding blade 120. Thus, a downward spiral flow of the blending objectmay be induced, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

For example, the blending objects, touching the internal side surface ofthe internal cylinder 210 while flowing rotationally in one direction,may descend along a spiral structure of a screw projection line whilecolliding against the screw projection line rotating in an oppositedirection. Thus, the blending objects may flow to the grinding blade120, disposed in the lower portion of the internal cylinder 210, tofurther improve the grinding effect of the blender.

Hereinafter, blending object grinding effects will be described based ontime-dependent ground states by comparing the above-configured blenderaccording to the present disclosure with blenders according to first andsecond relate arts with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8.

FIG. 6 illustrates time-dependent results of grinding garlic, a blendingobject, by a blender according to the present disclosure and blendersaccording to the first related art and the second related art.

The blender according to the present disclosure started to grind garlicafter putting the garlic therein. About 50% of the overall amount of thegarlic was ground after three seconds, about 80% was ground after 15seconds, and about 100% was ground after a minute.

Meanwhile, the blender according to the first related art started togrind garlic after putting the garlic therein. About 20% of the overallamount of the garlic was ground after three seconds, about 30% wasground after 15 seconds, and about 40% was ground after a minute.

In addition, the blender according to the second related art started togrind garlic after putting the garlic therein. About 10% of the overallamount of the garlic was ground after three seconds, about 30% wasground after 15 seconds, and about 40% was ground after a minute.

FIG. 7 illustrates time-dependent results of grinding apple, a blendingobject, by a blender according to the present disclosure and blendersaccording to the first related art and the second related art.

The blender according to the present disclosure started to grind appleafter putting the apple therein. About 50% of the overall amount of theapple was ground after three seconds, about 70% was ground after 15seconds, and about 80% was ground after a minute.

Meanwhile, the blender according to the first related art started togrind apple after putting the apple therein. About 20% of the overallamount of the apple was ground after three seconds, about 30% was groundafter 15 seconds, and about 40% was ground after a minute.

In addition, the blender according to the second related art started togrind apple after putting the apple therein. About 10% of the overallamount of the apple was ground after three seconds, about 10% was groundafter 15 seconds, and about 10% was ground after a minute.

FIG. 8 illustrates time-dependent results of grinding celery, a blendingobject, by a blender according to the present disclosure and blendersaccording to the first related art and the second related art.

The blender according to the present disclosure started to grind celeryafter putting the celery therein. About 60% of the overall amount of thecelery was ground after three seconds, about 80% was ground after 15seconds, and about 90% was ground after a minute.

Meanwhile, the blender according to the first related art started togrind celery after putting the celery therein. About 5% of the overallamount of the celery was ground after three seconds, about 10% wasground after 15 seconds, and about 10% was ground after a minute.

In addition, the blender according to the second related art started togrind celery after putting the celery therein. About 5% of the overallamount of the celery was ground after three seconds, about 10% wasground after 15 seconds, and about 10% was ground after a minute.

To sum up the above results, the blenders according to the first andsecond related arts started to grind a blending object after putting theblending object therein. After three seconds, a small amount of theblending object was ground. After 15 seconds, the amount of grinding theblending object was slightly increased. From 15 seconds to a minute, theamount of grinding the blending object was little changed.

This demonstrates that in the blenders according to the first and secondrelated arts, the blending objects were maintained in a state of balancefrom 15 second to a minute to maintain a state in which the blendingobjects were not ground any more.

For example, in the blenders according to the first and second relatedarts, the blending objects are moved to an internal side surface of aninternal cylinder by centrifugal force generated by rotation of grindingblade. In this case, when force balance between particles of theblending objects is maintained, the blending objects are not moved andthen stopped. Since the blending objects are not moved to the grindingblade, the blending objects are not ground any more.

Meanwhile, the blender according to the present disclosure started togrind a blending object after putting the blending object therein. Afterthree seconds, more than half of the blending object was ground. Evenafter 15 seconds, the amount of grinding the blending object wascontinuously increased. Even until a minute, the amount of grinding theblending object was steadily increased. Thus, most of the blendingobject was ground. As a result, the blender according to the presentdisclosure has a high grinding effect.

Hereinafter, the configuration to implement such an effect will bedescribed. In the blender according to the present disclosure, thecontroller may control the internal cylinder driving portion 220 toblend the blending objects while changing the rotational direction ofthe internal cylinder, so that the state of balance of the blendingobjects maybe broken to prevent the blending objects from being piled uplike a wall on the internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210,and the grinding object may return to the grinding blade 120 tosignificantly improve grinding performance.

For example, as the rotational direction of the internal cylinder 210 ofthe blender according to the present disclosure is changed, the forcebalance between the particles of the blending objects may be broken tocause force imbalance between the particles. Thus, the particles mayflow again. While the particles flow, the blending objects may be movedto the grinding blade 120 to be continuously ground.

The controller may control the internal cylinder driving portion 220 andthe blade driving portion 130 to rotate the grinding blade 120 afterrotating the internal cylinder 210.

In blending objects rotating in conjunction with the rotation of thegrinding blade 120 and the internal cylinder 210, the grinding blade 120may substantially greater rotational driving force than the internalcylinder 210.

For this reason, when the grinding blade 120 rotates ahead of theinternal cylinder 210, the blending objects may rotate at significantlyhigh speed due to the grinding blade 120, so that the blending objectsdo not rotate in the reverse direction in a short time even when theinternal cylinder 210 rotates in the reverse direction. As a result, thestate of balance of the blending objects may not be rapidly broken.

To address the above issue, the internal cylinder 210 rotates ahead ofthe grinding blade 120. Accordingly, when the grinding blade 120 rotatesat high speed while the blending objects rotate in a reverse directiondue to rotational force of the internal cylinder 210, the state ofbalance of the blending objects may be barely maintained. As a result,the blending objects may be ground in a shorter time.

In addition, the controller may control the internal cylinder drivingportion 220 and the blade driving portion 130 such that the internalcylinder 210 and the grinding blade 120 may be simultaneously stopped atleast once or only the grinding blade 120 may be stopped at least onceduring rotation of the internal cylinder 210 and the grinding blade 120.

Accordingly, the blending objects rotated by the grinding blade 120 orreversely rotated by the internal cylinder 210 may not be provided witha rotational force momentarily and simultaneously, so that the blendingobjects may be momentarily decelerated to further increase irregularflow of the blending objects. Thus, an effect of breaking the state ofbalance of the blending objects may be further improved.

The internal cylinder 210 and the grinding blade 120, operating in theabove-described operation, may be represented as illustrated in FIG. 9when an X-axis denotes time.

Specifically, when the blender according to the present disclosureoperates, the internal cylinder driving portion 220 may be controlled torepeatedly operate and stop the internal cylinder 210, as in operationsA1 to AN.

As in the operation A1 of the cylinder 210 and an operation B1 of thegrinding blade 120, when the blender according to the present disclosureoperates first, the internal cylinder 210 may operate, and then thegrinding blade may operate.

As in an operation A3 of the internal cylinder 210 and an operation B3of the grinding blade 120, the grinding blade 120 may be stopped duringrotation of the internal cylinder 210.

As in an operation B4 of the grinding blade 120 and an operation A4 ofthe internal cylinder 210, the internal cylinder 210 may be stoppedduring rotation of the grinding blade 120. In such an operating pattern,the internal cylinder driving portion 220 and the blade driving portion130 may be controlled.

Furthermore, operating times in the respective operations A1 to AN ofthe internal cylinder 110 may be controlled to be entirely or partiallydifferent, and the operating times of respective operations B1 to BN ofthe grinding blade 120 may be controlled to be entirely or partiallydifferent.

As illustrated in FIGS. 11 and 12, a guide portion 211 may be formed inthe internal cylinder 210 of the blender according to the presentdisclosure.

When the blender according to the present disclosure operates, theinternal cylinder 210 rotates (clockwise as illustrated in thedrawings), and then the grinding blade (120 in FIG. 10) rotates in adirection opposing the rotational direction of the internal cylinder 210(counterclockwise as illustrated in the drawings). In this case, thegrinding blade 120 may have significantly small rotational force beforerotation at high speed (an initial operation), so that blending objectsmay not rotate and may be stopped when the blending objects are caughtbetween the grinding blade 120 and the projection (211 in FIG. 10).

For example, when the grinding blade 120 is blocked at the beginning ofoperation by the blending object supported by the projection 211, theblending objects may not be ground and may be stopped due to smallrotational force at the beginning of the operation. Ultimately, theblending objects are barely ground.

As an example, as illustrated in a 10 o'clock position in FIG. 10,carrot ‘C’, a blending object, is caught between grinding blade 120 anda projection 211, so that the grinding blade 120 may not rotate anymoreand may be stopped even when the grinding blade 120 is continuouslyprovided with driving force by a blade driving portion (130 of FIG. 2).

To address the above issue in the initial operation of the blender, theblender according to the present disclosure may include an internalcylinder 210 according to another embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 11and 12.

The internal cylinder 210 may include a guide portion 212 to preventblending objects from being caught between grinding blade (120 in FIG.9) and a projection 211.

The guide portion 212 maybe formed in a lower side portion of theprojection 211 disposed in a lateral direction of the grinding blade120, and may have a structure to guide blending objects to a center ofan internal cylinder 210.

For example, the guide portion 212 may be formed in the lateraldirection of the grinding blade 120 in a lower portion of an internalcylinder 210, rather than an upper portion of the internal cylinder 210,to guide and move the blending objects between the grinding blade 120and the projection 211.

Accordingly, when the blending objects are pushed by the grinding blade120 to be moved to the projection 211, the blending objects may not becaught by the projection 211 and may reach the guide portion 212 to beguided and moved to the center of the internal cylinder 210 by guideportion 212.

Specifically, the guide portion 212 may be formed between a lowersurface of the projection 211 and an internal lower surface of theinternal cylinder 210, and may have a slide surface 212 a tilted in arotational direction of the grinding blade 120 while extending from theinternal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 to the center of theinternal cylinder 210.

The slide surface 212 a may be tilted in a reverse rotational directionof the grinding blade 120 or in a reverse radial direction of theinternal cylinder 210, rather in the rotational direction of thegrinding blade 120. In this case, even when the grinding blade 120 pushblending objects while rotating, the blending objects may not slide tothe center of the internal cylinder 210 from the slide surface 212 a andmay be continuously maintained in a state of being caught between thegrinding blade 120 and the projection 211.

In this regard, the slide the guide portion 212 may have the structurein which the slide surface 212 a is tilted in the rotational directionof the grinding blade 120 while extending from the internal side surfaceof the internal cylinder 210 to the center of the internal cylinder 210.Accordingly, when the blending objects are pushed by the grinding blade120 to reach the slide surface 212 a, the blending objects maybe slid onthe slide surface 212 a to be moved to the center of the internalcylinder 210.

As described above, as the blending objects are slidably moved by theslide surface 212 a to get out of a space between the grinding blade 120and the projection 211, the grinding blade 120 may not be blocked by theblending objects and may continuously rotate. Thus, an operation ofgrinding the blending objects by the grinding blade 120 may beperformed.

In the drawings, aside edge of the center of the internal cylinder 210is illustrated as having an unbent shape. However, in anotherembodiment, the side edge may be bent in the rotational direction of thegrinding blade 120 when the grinding blade 120 and the internal cylinder210 rotate in opposing directions.

Accordingly, the blending objects sliding on the slide surface 212 a maybe more smoothly slidably moved to the center of the internal cylinder210 without being caught on the slide surface 212 a even by the sideedge of the center of the internal cylinder 210.

In addition, the slide surface 212 a of the guide portion 212 may betilted at an angle of, in detail, 20 degrees to 40 degrees in therotational direction of the grinding blade 120, based on the reverseradial direction of the internal cylinder 210.

When the tilt angle of the slide surface 212 a is narrower than 20degrees, the slide surface 212 a may get close to an imaginary line ofthe internal cylinder 210 in the reverse radial direction, so that adirection in which the blending objects are pressed by the grindingblade 120 and the slide surface 212 a are close to vertical.Accordingly, it may be difficult for the blending objects to slide tothe center the internal cylinder 210 via the slide surface 212 a.

When the tilt angle of the slide surface 212 a is greater than 40degrees, the guide portion 212 may occupy a large amount of an internalspace of the internal cylinder 210 to decrease a capacity ofaccommodating blending objects. Ultimately, the amount of blending theblending objects may also be decreased.

As an improved embodiment, the projection 211 may be tilted in therotational direction of the internal cylinder 210 while protruding fromthe internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 to the center ofthe internal cylinder 210.

Accordingly, when the internal cylinder 210 rotates in a directionopposing the grinding blade 120, the projection 211 may have greaterholding force to hold the blending objects. Thus, an action of rotatingthe blending objects in a reverse direction may be further greater.

For reference, the tilted structure of the projection 211 means that asurface of the projection 211, disposed on a side in the rotationaldirection of the internal cylinder 210, is titled.

The projection 211 may be tiled at an angle of, in detail, 20 to 60degrees in the rotational direction of the internal cylinder 210, basedon the reverse radial direction of the internal cylinder 210.

When the tilt angle of the projection 211 is narrower than 20 degrees, atilted surface of the projection 211 may get close to an imaginary lineof the internal cylinder 210 in the reverse radiation direction.Accordingly, when the internal cylinder 210 rotates in a directionopposing the grinding blade 120, the projection 211 may have lowerdegree of holding force to hold the blending objects. Thus, reverserotation of the blending objects may not occur sufficiently.

When the tilt angle of the projection 211 is greater than 60 degrees, aspace between an internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 andthe projection 211 may be reduced. Thus, the amount of holding theblending objects may be reduced and, ultimately, rotation of theblending objects may not occur sufficiently.

The projection 211 may include a plurality of projections 211 formedalong an internal circumferential surface of the internal cylinder 210.In another embodiment, cross-sections of two adjacent projections 211,among a plurality of projections 211, may be different from each other,as illustrated in FIG. 13.

When cross-sections of adjacent two projections 211 are different fromeach other, vortex of the blending objects generated by the projections211 may have different irregular flows. Thus, grinding performance ofthe blender according to the present disclosure may be improved.

As a specific example, the projection 211 may have a rectangular orcurved cross-section, as illustrated in the drawing.

In addition, rotational speed of the internal cylinder 210 may be, indetail, 60 rpm to 400 rpm.

When the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 210 is higher than400 rpm, force to draw the blending objects to the internal side surfaceof the internal cylinder 210 may be increased to reduce the grindingperformance of the blender. When the rotational speed of the internalcylinder 210 is within the range of 60 rpm to 400 rpm, force to draw theblending objects to the internal side surface of the internal cylinder210 may be significantly decreased, and thus, the grinding performanceof the blender may not be reduced.

Of course, when the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 210 islower than 60 rpm, the internal cylinder 210 may rotate only in adirection in which the blending objects are rotated by the grindingblade 120 and may barely rotate in a reverse direction. Therefore, therotation of the internal cylinder 210 may be meaningless.

An arrangement structure of the blade driving portion 130 and theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 according to an exampleembodiment, described above, will be described in detail with referenceto FIGS. 1 and 2.

Both the blade driving portion 130 and the internal cylinder drivingportion 220 may be disposed below the internal cylinder 210.Alternatively, the blade driving portion 130 may be disposed below theinternal cylinder 210, and the internal cylinder driving portion 220 maybe disposed above the internal cylinder driving portion 220.

A description will be provided as to the structure in which both theblade driving portion 130 and the internal cylinder driving portion 220are disposed below the internal cylinder 210. The blade driving portion130 may be disposed below the grinding blade 120, and the internalcylinder driving portion 220 may be disposed below the internal cylinder210. As illustrated in the drawing, the blade driving portion 130 andthe internal cylinder driving portion 220 may have a structure in whicha blade driving motor M1 of the blade driving portion 130 and aninternal cylinder driving motor M2 of the internal cylinder drivingportion 220 are embedded in a support block 150 disposed below a blenderbody 100.

In addition, a description will be provided as to the structure in whichthe blade driving portion 130 is disposed below the internal cylinder210 and the internal cylinder driving portion 220 is disposed above theinternal cylinder 210. The blade driving portion 130 may be disposed ona lower side of the grinding blade 120, and the internal cylinderdriving portion 220 may be disposed above the internal cylinder 210. Asillustrated in the drawing, the blade driving portion 130 and theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 may have a structure in which ablade driving motor M1 of the blade driving portion 130 is embedded in asupport block 150 disposed below the blender body 100 and, although notillustrated in the drawing, an internal cylinder driving motor M2 of theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 is mounted on an external cylindercover 140, as an example.

Hereinafter, internal configurations of the blade driving portion 130and the internal cylinder driving portion 220 will be described in moredetail.

The blade driving portion 130 may include a blade rotation shaft 131,connected to the grinding blade 120 in a vertical direction, and a bladedriving motor M1 connected to the blade rotation shaft 131 to rotate theblade rotation shaft 131.

The internal cylinder driving portion 220 may include a rotation bracket221 on which the internal cylinder 210 is mounted, an internal cylinderrotation shaft 222 connected from the rotation bracket 221 in thevertical direction, and an internal cylinder driving motor M2 connectedto the internal cylinder rotation shaft 222 to rotate the internalcylinder rotation shaft 222.

As an example, as illustrated in the drawing, the rotation bracket 221may be disposed on the bottom of the external cylinder 110, the bladerotation shaft 131 may be disposed in a hollow 222 a of the internalrotation shaft 222, and the internal cylinder rotation shaft 222 may beconnected to the internal cylinder driving motor M2, disposed on oneside, through a driving transmission belt.

For reference, a seating base 151, on which the external cylinder 110 isseated and coupled, may be mounted above the support block 150, and ablade rotation shaft 131 penetrating through the seating base 151 and ashaft bearing 152 rolling and supporting the internal cylinder rotationshaft 222 may be mounted on the seating base 151.

The internal cylinder unit 200 may further include an internal cylindercover 230 covered with the internal cylinder 210 to be clamped.

As illustrated in FIG. 14, a central projection 231 may be formed on theinternal cylinder cover 230, and the blender body 100 may be formed tohave a projection support groove 140 a in which the central projection231 of the internal cylinder cover 230 is inserted to be rotationallysupported. The projection support groove 140 a may be formed in theexternal cylinder cover 140.

As a lower portion of the internal cylinder 210 is connected to theinternal cylinder driving portion 220 to rotationally drive the internalcylinder 210, an upper portion of the internal cylinder 210 may beshaken. To prevent such shaking of the upper portion of the internalcylinder 220, the upper portion of the internal cylinder 210 may coveredwith the internal cylinder cover 230 to support the upper portion of theinternal cylinder 210, and then the central projection 231 of theinternal cover 230 may be inserted into the projection support groove140 a of the external cylinder cover 140 to support the upper portion ofthe internal cylinder 220. Thus, the upper portion of the internalcylinder 220 may be solidly and stably supported during rotation of theinternal cylinder 210. In this case, the projection support groove 140 aof the external cylinder cover 140 may be a central hole in a side of aninner race of a cover bearing 1041 mounted below the external cylindercover 140.

Together with the above-described projection support structure or asanother embodiment, a support roller 111 may be mounted in the externalcylinder 110 to support an external side surface of the internalcylinder 210. The support roller 111 may support the external surface ofthe internal cylinder 210, in particular, an upper portion of theinternal cylinder 210, as illustrated in the drawing, to solidly andstably support the upper portion of the internal cylinder 210.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the internal cylinder 210 may have a pluralityof drain holes 210 a formed in a side portion of the internal cylinder210 to dehydrate blending objects during rotation.

A blending object may be put in the internal cylinder 210, and may bethen ground during rotation of grinding blade 120 disposed inside theinternal cylinder 210, and the internal cylinder 210 may simultaneouslyrotate to push a liquid (juice), included in the blending object to anexternal side of the internal cylinder 120 through the drain hole 210 a.

Of course, the internal cylinder 210 may have a structure in which adrain hole is not formed, as illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 12.

For reference, an internal cylinder 210 illustrated in FIG. 15A may be agrinding specific-purpose internal cylinder, and an internal cylinder210 illustrated in FIG. 15B may be a dehydration specific-purposeinternal cylinder.

Specifically, the internal cylinder 120 having no drain hole, asillustrated in FIG. 15A, may be used to prevent a dehydration functionfrom being implemented during rotation of the grinding blade 120. Whensuch an internal cylinder 210 is used, an action of inducing a downwardspiral flow of the blending object, a function of the above-describedprojection 211, may be implemented. Then, when a dehydration function isrequired, the internal cylinder 210 may be replaced with an internalcylinder 210 in which a drain hole 210 a is formed, and the groundblending objects may be input in the replaced internal cylinder 210, andthen the blender may operate.

The internal cylinder 210 may be replaced with the internal cylinder210, illustrated in FIG. 3, to simultaneously implement the grindingfunction of the grinding blade 120. The internal cylinder 210 may bereplaced with the internal cylinder 210, in which only a drain hole 210a is formed, as illustrated in FIG. 15B, to implement only a dehydrationfunction without implementing the grinding function of the grindingblade 120. In this case, a lower groove 210 b may be formed on a lowersurface facing the external cylinder 110 such that the grinding blade120 is disposed on an external side of the internal cylinder 210. Thegrinding blade 120 may be disposed to be inserted into the lower groove210 b.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a discharge pipe 112 may be formed on a lowerportion of the external pipe 110 to discharge a liquid, dehydrated fromthe blending object, to an external entity. An opening and closing valuemay be mounted on the discharge pipe 112.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the blender according to the presentdisclosure may further include a vacuum unit 300 configured to establishvacuum in the internal cylinder 210.

The vacuum unit 300 may include a suction pipe 310, connected to theinternal cylinder 210, and a vacuum driving portion 320 communicatingwith the suction pipe 310. The vacuum driving portion 320 may include avacuum motor M3 and a vacuum pump P.

A blending operation, including a grinding operation and a dehydrationoperation, may be performed in a vacuum by the above-configured vacuumunit 300. Thus, blending objects including fruits, vegetables, or thelike, may be blended in the state in which the blending objects are notoxidized, so that fresh and nutrient-undestroyed liquid (juice) may beobtained.

As an example, the blender body 100 may further include a support block150, supporting the external cylinder 110, and a handle 160 connectingthe external cylinder 110 and the support block 150 to each other. Thevacuum driving portion 320 may be embedded in the support block 150, andthe suction pipe 310 may be embedded in the handle 160.

As another example, as partially illustrated in FIGS. 6 to 8, a handlemay be connected to only an external cylinder and a support block mayextend to an upper portion of a support block. In this case, a suctionpipe communicating with an internal cylinder may be embedded in avertical connection portion.

In addition, it will be understood that in the blender according to thepresent disclosure, a detailed structure of the vacuum unit is notlimited to the present disclosure, and the vacuum unit may employ anystructure according to the related art.

For reference, the support block 150 may include a control unitconfigured to control the blade driving motor M1 of the blade drivingportion 130, the internal cylinder driving motor M2 of the internalcylinder driving portion 220, and the vacuum motor M3 of the vacuumdriving portion 320, described above. In addition, an input panel and adisplay panel of the controller may be mounted on an external surface.

As a result, the blender according to the present disclosure may controlthe internal cylinder driving portion 220 to blend blending objectswhile repeatedly performing an operating pattern in which a controllerchanges a rotational direction of the internal cylinder 210 or theinternal cylinder 210 rotates in a reverse direction opposing arotational direction of the grinding blade 120, and is then stopped, oran operating pattern in which the internal cylinder 210 rotates in thereverse direction, and then changes rotational speed. Accordingly, anirregular flow of the blending objects may occur, so that the blendingobjects may not be piled up on the internal side surface of the internalcylinder 210 like a wall and may return to the grinding blade 120rotating in a central portion of the internal cylinder 210. Thus,grinding performance may be significantly improved.

That is, the blender according to the present disclosure may beconfigured to achieve an irregular flow of blending objects. Thus, theblender may break down the blending objects maintained like a wall onthe internal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 to ultimatelyimprove grinding performance for the blending objects.

Furthermore, in the blender according to the present disclosure, theprojection 211 having a screw projection line shape inducing a downwardspiral flow of the blending object may be provided on the internal sidesurface of the internal cylinder 210 such that the blending objectsflows downward while rotating in a direction opposing the rotationaldirection of the grinding blade 120. Thus, the blending objects, flowingupward while being radially pushed by centrifugal force, may flow to thegrinding blade 120 disposed below the internal cylinder 210. As aresult, a grinding effect of the blender may be further increased.

In the blender according to the present disclosure, a guide portion 212may be formed below the projection 211, disposed in a lateral directionof the grinding blade 120, to slidably guide blending objects to acenter of the internal cylinder 210. The guide portion 212 may preventthe blending objects from being caught between the grinding blade 120and the projection 211. Thus, rotation of the grinding blade 120 may beprevented from being stopped at the beginning of operation of theblender.

In addition, the blender according to the present disclosure may have astructure in which the projection 211 is tilted in the rotationaldirection of the internal cylinder 210 while protruding from theinternal side surface of the internal cylinder 210 to the center of theinternal cylinder 210. Due to the structure, holding force to hold theblending objects maybe further increased when the internal cylinder 210rotates in a direction opposing the grinding blade 120. Thus, an actionof reverse rotation of the blending objects may be further stronglyperformed.

FIG. 16 is a view illustrating a blender according to another embodimentof the present disclosure, FIG. 17 is a view illustrating the inside ofthe blender of FIG. 5, and FIGS. 18 and 19 are views illustratingoperating states of an internal cylinder driving unit in the blender inFIG. 17.

Referring to the drawings, a blender according to another embodiment mayinclude a blender body 1100 and an internal cylinder unit 1200.

The blender body 1100 may include an external cylinder 1110, a grindingblade 1120, and a blade driving portion 1130.

Specifically, the external cylinder 1110 may have a closed lower surfaceand an open upper portion (an open top structure), and may be configuredto be covered with a blender cover 1140.

The external cylinder 1110 may be seated in a cylinder support case 1300to be described later. Before the external cylinder 1110 is covered witha blender cover 1140, an external cylinder cover 1110 a may cover anupper portion of the external cylinder 1110 to close the externalcylinder 111. A suction hole may be formed in the external cylindercover 1110 a such that vacuum is established in the external cylinder1110 by a vacuum unit 1400 to be described later.

In addition, a discharge portion (not illustrated) may be formed toextract juice without separating the external cylinder 1110 from thecylinder support case 1300 when the juice is extracted from a blendingobject through a dehydration hole 11210 a of the internal cylinder 1210by a dehydration process of the blending object to be described later.

In this case, the blending object refers to food ground by an operationof a blender to produce juice.

The grinding blade 1120 may be disposed inside the internal cylinder1210, and may serve to grind and liquefy blending objects in theinternal cylinder 1210 when the grinding blade 1120 rotates.

The blade driving unit 1130 may be configured to rotate the grindingblade 1120.

The external cylinder 1110 may be supported by the cylinder support case1300, and the cylinder support case 1300 may have an overall L shape, asillustrated in the drawings.

The cylinder support case 1300 may include a lower casing portion 1310,disposed below the external cylinder 1110, and a side casing portion1320 extending upwardly of the lower casing portion 1310 to be connectedto the blender cover 1140.

Specifically, the external cylinder 1110 may be seated on an uppersurface of the lower casing portion 1310 disposed in a traversedirection, and the blender cover 1140 may be hingedly coupled to anupper end of the side casing portion 1320, extending upwardly of thelower casing portion 1310 to be disposed in a longitudinal direction, torotate up and down.

The blade driving portion 1130 and an internal cylinder driving portion1220 to be described later may be mounted in the cylinder support case1300. When the external cylinder 1110, in which the internal cylinder1210 is embedded, is seated on the cylinder support case 1300, thegrinding blade 1120 disposed inside the internal cylinder 1210 and theblade driving portion 1130 mounted on the cylinder support case 1300maybe connected to each other to transmit driving force, and internalcylinder 1210 mounted in the external cylinder 1110 and the internalcylinder driving portion 1220 mounted on the cylinder support case 1300may be connected to each other to transmit driving force.

More specifically, the external cylinder 1110 may be removably connectedto the cylinder support case 1300. For example, a spiral projectionfitted to the cylinder support case 1300 may be formed on an externalcircumferential surface of a lower projection 1110 b of the externalcylinder 1110, and a spiral groove may be formed on an internalcircumferential surface of a seating groove 1300 a of the cylindersupport case 1300 in which the lower projection 1110 b is seated.Accordingly, the projection may be fitted to the groove, so that theexternal cylinder 1110 may be mounted on the cylinder support case 1300and may be reversely released to be separated therefrom.

In addition, the external cylinder 1110 may include a plurality ofintermediate rotation shafts to transmit externally transmitted drivingforce to each of the grinding blade 1130 and the internal cylinder 1120disposed therein. Specifically, the external cylinder 1110 may include afirst intermediate rotation shaft 1121 and a second intermediaterotation shaft 1211 surrounding the first intermediate rotation shaft1121.

The first intermediate rotation shaft 1121 may have a structure, capableof receiving power from a blade driving motor 1132 disposed in thecylinder support case 1300 and transmitting the received power to thegrinding blade 1130. To this end, as an example, a lower portion of thefirst intermediate rotation shaft 1121 may be key-coupled to the bladerotation shaft 1131 of the blade driving portion 1130, and an upperportion thereof maybe key-coupled to the grinding blade 1130.

The second intermediate rotation shaft 1211 may have a structure,capable of receiving power from the internal cylinder driving motor 1222disposed in the cylinder support case 1300 and transmitting the receivedpower to the internal cylinder 1120. To this end, as an example, a lowerportion of the second intermediate rotation shaft 1211 may bekey-coupled to the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 of the internalcylinder driving unit 1220, and an upper portion thereof may bekey-coupled to the internal cylinder 1120.

In this case, a bearing may be disposed between the first intermediaterotation shaft 1121 and the second intermediate rotation shaft 1211 suchthat the first intermediate rotation shaft 1121 and the secondintermediate rotation shaft 1211 may independently rotate.

The internal cylinder unit 1200 may include an internal cylinder 1210and an internal cylinder driving portion 1220.

The internal cylinder 1210 maybe mounted in the external cylinder 1110.Before the internal cylinder 1210 is seated on the cylinder support case1300, the internal cylinder cover 11210 a may cover an upper portion ofthe internal cylinder 1210 to close the internal cylinder 1210. Asuction hole may be formed in the internal cylinder cover 11120 a suchthat vacuum is established in the internal cylinder 1210 by the vacuumunit 1400 to be described later.

At least one projection 1213 may be formed on the internal side surfaceof the internal cylinder 1210 such that the blending objects, flowingrotationally while being ground by the grinding blade 1120, are caught.

When the grinding blade 1120 rotates while the blending objects areaccommodated in the internal cylinder 1210, the blending objects maycollide against a projection 1213 formed on the internal side surface ofthe internal cylinder 1210, rotating in an opposite direction, togenerate a turbulence of the blending objects. In this case, theturbulence may be increased, so that a grinding effect of the blendingobjects may be increased.

In addition, the blending objects may flow upwardly while being radiallypushed by centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the grindingblade 1120. A projection 1213 having a screw projection line shape,inducing a downward spiral flow of the blending objects, may be providedon the internal side surface of the internal cylinder 1210, so that theblending objects may flow to the grinding blade 1120 disposed on aninternal lower surface of the internal cylinder 1210. Thus, a grindingeffect of the blender may be further increased.

To achieve irregular flow of the blending objects in the internalcylinder 1210, a controller (not illustrated) may control an internalcylinder driving motor 1222 of an internal cylinder driving portion 1220to be described later to perform an operating pattern in which theinternal cylinder 1210 rotates reversely in a direction opposing thegrinding blade 1120 and is then stopped, or an operating pattern inwhich the internal cylinder 1210 rotates reversely and then changesrotational speed.

The internal cylinder 1210 may have a plurality of dehydration holes1210 b formed in a side portion thereof to perform a dehydration processsuch that only juice may be extracted from the blending object ground bythe grinding blade 1120.

In the drawing, the dehydration holes 1210 b are illustrated as beingenlarged. However, the dehydration hole 1210 are actually significantlysmall holes, and may include a plurality of dehydration holes 1210 bformed in the side portion of the internal cylinder 1210 to have a meshstructure. In addition, as illustrated in the drawing, the dehydrationhole 1210 b may be directly formed in the side portion of the internalcylinder 1210. Although not illustrated in the drawing, an additionalmember, for example, a mesh member may be mounted to be a portion of theside portion of the internal cylinder 1210.

In addition, the dehydration hole 1210 b may be formed in a lowerportion or the side portion of the internal cylinder 1210. In this case,the dehydration hole 1210 b may be preferably formed in the side portionrather than the lower portion. Moreover, the dehydration hole 1210 b maybe more preferably formed in the side portion at a certain height ormore. This is because when there is a certain amount of liquid (forexample, additionally supplied water or juice produced from the blendingobject during grinding) during blending of the blending object, ablending effect may be increase.

Of course, even when the dehydration hole 1210 b is formed in the sideportion of the internal cylinder 1210 at a certain height or more, juicemay be dehydrated through the dehydration hole 1210 b to be dischargedoutwardly of the internal cylinder 1210 as the ground blending objecteasily moves to an upper side along the internal side surface of theinternal cylinder 1210. This is because the internal cylinder 1210 mayrotate at significantly higher speed in a dehydration operation of theblending object than in a grinding operation of the blending object.

The internal cylinder driving portion 1220 may be configured to rotatethe internal cylinder 1210.

Specifically, the internal cylinder driving portion 1220 may include aninternal cylinder rotation shaft 1221, an internal cylinder drivingmotor 1222, and an internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223.

The above-described blade driving portion 1130 may include a bladerotation shaft 1131, a blade driving motor 1132, and a blade drivingconnection portion 1133.

The internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 maybe connected to transmitrotational driving force to the lower portion of the internal cylinder1210 embedded in the external cylinder 1110 when the external cylinder1110 is seated in the cylinder support case 1300. The blade rotationshaft 1131 may be connected to transmit rotational driving force to thelower portion of the grinding blade 1120 embedded in the internalcylinder 1210 when the external cylinder 1110 is seated in the cylindersupport case 1300.

In this case, the blade rotation shaft 1131 may be axially-rotationallymounted in a hollow formed in the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221,so that the blade rotation shaft 1131 and the internal cylinder rotationshaft 1221 axially rotate independently.

For example, a bearing may be provided in the hollow of the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 to be mounted while penetrating through theblade rotation shaft 1131. Thus, the blade rotation shaft 1131 mayaxially rotate independently in the internal cylinder rotation shaft1221.

The internal cylinder driving portion 1220 may have a structure in whicha gear-coupled structure of the internal cylinder driving portion 1223varies such that the internal cylinder 1210 has different rotationalspeeds in a grinding operation and a dehydration operation of theblending object.

For example, when the blending object is ground using the blender and isthen dehydrated, the internal cylinder 1210 should rotate at higherspeed during extraction of juice from the ground blending object(dehydration) than during grinding the blending object. To this end,when the blending object is ground, the internal cylinder drivingconnection portion 1223 may have a gear-coupled structure in which theinternal cylinder 1210 rotates at lower speed than during thedehydration, and when the blending object is dehydrated, the internalcylinder driving connection portion 1223 may have a gear-coupledstructure in which the internal cylinder 1210 rotates at higher speedthan during the dehydration.

Accordingly, when the blending objects are ground, a torque is increasedwhile decreasing reverse rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210.Thus, among blending objects rotating in a forward direction due toforward rotation of the grinding blade, blending objects close to theinternal side surface of the internal cylinder 1210 may smoothly rotatein a reverse direction. In addition, during dehydration of the groundblending objects, the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 maybe increased to be as high as possible, as compared with during grindingof the blending objects, to significantly increase the dehydrationeffect.

Specifically, the internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223 maybe provided with a small driving gear 1223 b and a large driving gear1223 c, mounted on the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a connectedto the internal cylinder driving motor 1222, and a large hollow gear1223 e and a small hollow gear 1223 f mounted on the internal cylinderrotation shaft or an intermediate rotation shaft 1223 d rotating inconjunction with the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

The internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a and the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 may be disposed in parallel to each other. As anexample, as an additional driving force transmission medium, anintermediate rotation shaft 1223 d may be provided in parallel to theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a and the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 when driving force is transmitted from the internalcylinder driving shaft 1223 a to the internal cylinder rotation shaft1221.

In this case, the large hollow gear 1223 e and the small hollow gear1223 f may be directly mounted on the internal cylinder rotation shaft1221 and, as illustrated in the drawing, may be mounted on theintermediate rotation shaft 1223 d. In the present specification, adescription will be provided as to an example in which the large hollowgear 1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f are mounted on theintermediate rotation shaft 1223 d.

Therefore, it will be understood that an arrangement of the large hollowgear 1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f to be described later maybe applied to the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 when the largehollow gear 1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f are directly mountedon the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

The small driving gear 1223 b and the large driving gear 1223 c may bedisposed on the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a to be spacedapart from each other in an axial direction, and the large hollow gear1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f may be disposed on theintermediate rotation shaft 1223 d to be spaced apart from each other inthe axial direction.

In this case, the small driving gear 1223 b and the large driving gear1223 c may be sequentially disposed on the internal cylinder drivingshaft 1223 a and the large hollow gear 1223 e and the small hollow gear1223 f may be sequentially disposed on the intermediate rotation shaft1223 d such that the small driving gear 1223 b of the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a corresponds to the large hollow gear 1223 e of theintermediate rotation shaft 1223 d and the large driving gear 1223 c ofthe internal cylinder driving gear 1223 a corresponds to the smallhollow gear of the intermediate rotation shaft 1223 d.

As an example, as illustrated in the drawing, the small driving gear1223 b and the large driving gear 1223 c may be sequentially disposed inan upward direction from the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a, andthe large hollow gear 1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f may besequentially disposed in an upward direction from the intermediaterotation shaft 1223 d.

For reference, as implied in the name of each component, the smalldriving gear 1223 b has a relatively smaller diameter than the largedriving gear 1223 c, and the large driving gear 1223 e has a relativelylarger diameter than the small hollow gear 1223 f.

The above-configured internal cylinder driving connecting portion 1223may have a structure in which, while the internal cylinder driving shaft1223 a reciprocates in the axial direction, the large driving gear 1223c and the small hollow gear 1223 f are not gear-coupled when the smalldriving gear 1223 b and the large hollow gear 1223 e are gear-coupled,and the small driving gear 1223 b and the large hollow gear 1223 e arenot gear-coupled when the large driving gear 1223 c and the small hollowgear 1223 f are gear-coupled.

As illustrated in FIG. 18, when blending objects are ground, theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a moves downward in the axialdirection, so that the large driving gear 1223 c and the small hollowgear 1223 f may be gear-coupled. Thus, the internal cylinder 1210 mayrotate with a large torque in spite of a decrease in rotational speed ofthe internal cylinder 1210. As a result, the internal cylinder 1210 maysmoothly rotate in a direction opposing the grinding blade.

As illustrated in FIG. 19, when blending objects are dehydrated, theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a moves downward in an axialdirection, so that the large driving gear 1223 c and the small hollowgear 1223 f may be gear-coupled. Thus, the internal cylinder 1210 mayrotate at relatively higher speed than during grinding of the blendingobjects. As a result, a dehydration action to extract juice from theground blending object may be effectively performed.

In addition, the internal cylinder connection portion 1223 may have astructure in which, although not illustrated in the drawing, while theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a does not reciprocate in an axialdirection and the intermediate rotation shaft 1223 d reciprocates in theaxial direction, the large driving gear 1223 c and the small hollow gear1223 f are not gear-coupled when the small driving gear 1223 b and thelarge hollow gear 1223 e are gear-coupled, and the small driving gear1223 b and the large hollow gear 1223 e are not gear-coupled when thelarge driving gear 1223 c and the small hollow gear 1223 f aregear-coupled.

In addition, although not illustrated in the drawing, it will beunderstood that the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 axially moveswhen the large hollow gear 1223 e and the small hollow gear 1223 f aredirectly mounted on the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

The internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223 may include ashaft moving member 1223 g to move the internal cylinder driving shaft1223 a in the axial direction. In this case, it will be understood thatthe shaft moving member 1223 g may employ any conventional drivingmember such as a solenoid cylinder, or the like.

The internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a is movably and slidablycoupled while being key-coupled such that one end portion of theinternal cylinder driving shaft 122 a axially rotates in conjunctionwith a motor shaft 1222 a of an internal cylinder driving motor 1222.

For example, the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may bekey-coupled such that one end portion of the internal cylinder drivingshaft 1223 a axially rotates in conjunction with the motor shaft 1222 aof the internal cylinder driving motor 1222, so that when the motorshaft 1222 a axially rotates with an operation of the internal cylinderdriving motor 1222, the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a mayaxially rotate in conjunction therewith to receive rotation drivingforce from the internal cylinder driving motor 1222.

In addition, one end portion of the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223a may be movably and slidably coupled to the motor shaft 1222 a of theinternal cylinder driving motor 1222 in an axial direction, allowing akey-coupled state to the motor shaft 1222 a to be maintained even whenthe internal cylinder driving shaft 1222 a moves in the axial directiondue to the shaft moving member 1223 g.

As an example, the hollow 1222 b of the motor shaft 1222 a may have arectangular cross-section, and a cross-section of one end portion of theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may correspond to thecross-section of the hollow 1222 b of the motor shaft 1222 a. Thus, theinternal cylinder driving shaft 122 a is movably and slidably coupledthe motor shaft 122 a in the axial direction while one end portion ofthe internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may be key-coupled to themotor shaft 1222 a in axially rotational conjunction therewith.

In addition, the other end portion of the internal cylinder drivingshaft 1223 a may axially-rotatably connected to the shaft moving member1223 g. Accordingly, even when the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223a moves in the axial direction due to the shaft moving member 1223 g,the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may axially rotate in thestate of being connected to the shaft moving member 1223 g.

As an example, the other end portion of the internal cylinder drivingshaft 1223 a may be connected to the shaft moving member 1223 g by anaxial rotation bearing 1223 h.

The internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223 may have a gearstructure such that the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210during dehydration of the blending objects is five times higher than therotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 during grinding of theblending objects.

As a detailed example, the internal cylinder driving connection portion1223 may have a gear structure such that rotational speed of theinternal cylinder 1210 is 50 rpm to 350 rpm during grinding of theblending objects and is 1500 rpm to 3500 rpm during dehydration of theblending objects.

According to the above-described configuration of the internal cylinderdriving connection portion 1223, a torque may be significantly increasedby reducing the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 whenblending objects are ground, and a dehydration effect may besignificantly improved by increasing the rotational speed of theinternal cylinder 1210 as high as possible during dehydration of theblending objects.

As another example, as illustrated in FIGS. 20 and 21, a gear-coupledstructure of the internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223 mayvary such that the internal cylinder 1210 has different rotationalspeeds during grinding of blending objects and during dehydration of theblending objects. Specifically, the internal cylinder driving portion1220 may include a pressing member 1230 configured to press the internalcylinder driving shaft 1223 a in an axial direction such thatreciprocation of the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a is performedto vary the gear-coupled structure of the internal cylinder drivingconnection portion 1223.

For example, the pressing member 1230 may be configured to move theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a in the axial direction.Specifically, the pressing member 1230 is not configured to simply movethe internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a at one time and to losedriving force, irrespective of completion of the variation of thegear-coupled structure, but is configured to press internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a in the axial direction until the variation of thegear-coupled structure of the internal cylinder driving connectionportion 1223 a is completed.

As an example, the small driving gear 1223 b of the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a and the large hollow gear 1223 e of the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 a and the intermediate rotation shaft 1223d may change from a non-gear-coupled state to a gear-coupled state tovary the gear-coupled structure. In the case in which gear teeth of thesmall driving gear 1223 b and teeth of the large hollow gear 1223 e arebrought into contact with each other but do not engage with each otherwhen the small driving gear 1223 b moves to the large hollow gear 1223e, the gear-coupled structure does not vary.

In order to allow the gear-coupled structure to vary in the case inwhich the gear teeth of the small driving gear 1223 b and teeth of thelarge hollow gear 1223 e do not engage with each other when the smalldriving gear 1223 b moves to the large hollow gear 1223 e, the pressingmember 1230 of the present disclosure may continuously press theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a in the axial direction, so thatthe gear teeth of the small driving gear 1223 b may be inserted betweenthe gear teeth of the large hollow gear 1223 e when the small drivinggear 1223 b rotates. As a result, the gear teeth of the small drivinggear 1223 b and the gear teeth of the large hollow gear 1223 e mayultimately engage with each other.

Specifically, the pressing member 1230 may include an air cylinder 1231and a spring 1232.

The air cylinder 1231 may press the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223a in one direction (in a downward direction, in the drawing), among axisdirections.

As illustrated in the drawing, the air cylinder 1231 may include acylinder body 1231 a and a plunger 1231 b.

The cylinder body 1231 a may have one side portion in which an airextraction hole ‘h’ communicating with an external air pump is formed.The air extraction hole ‘h’ may be connected to a vacuum unit 1400 suchthat air maybe extracted inside the cylinder body 1231 a by an operationof the vacuum unit 1400.

The plunger 1231 b may be provided with a head portion H and a roadportion R.

The head portion H may be embedded in the cylinder body 1231 a to bemoved in a length direction of the cylinder body 1231 a by airextraction through the air extraction hole ‘h.’

The road portion R may extend outwardly of the cylinder body 1231 a fromthe head portion H, and may be connected to the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a and a connection moving bar 1240. In this case, theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a is axially-rotatably coupled tothe connection moving bar 1240. As an example, the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a may be axially-rotatably coupled to the connectionmoving bar 1240 via a bearing member.

The spring 1232 may press the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a inthe other direction (in an upward direction, in the drawing), among theaxial directions.

Specifically, one end of the spring 1232 may be supported on a fixingplate 1250 to which the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a isaxially movably and axially rotationally coupled, and the other end ofthe spring 1232 may be supported on the connection moving bar 1240.Accordingly, when the air extraction of the air cylinder 1231 isstopped, the spring 1240 may elastically press the connection moving bar1240 to reversely move the fixing plate 1250 moved by the air cylinder1231. For reference, the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a isaxially rotationally coupled to the fixing plate 1250. As an example,the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may be axially rotationallycoupled to the fixing plate 1250 via a bearing member.

Hereinafter, a description will be provided as to a process in which theinternal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a is reciprocally and axially movedby the above-configured air cylinder 1231 and the above-configuredspring 1232.

As illustrated in FIG. 20, when air is extracted through the airextraction hole of the air cylinder 1231, an internal space on a side ofthe air extraction hole becomes negative pressure in the cylinder body1231 a. Accordingly, the plunger 1231 b may descend, so that theconnection moving bar 1240 may descend, allowing the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a to descend.

Accordingly, the small driving gear 1223 b may be gear-coupled to thelarge driving gear 1223 e, so that the internal cylinder 1210 mayrotates at low speed and high torque to effectively grind blendingobjects in the internal cylinder 1210.

In this case, it is a matter of course that the spring is pressedbetween the fixing plate 1250 and the connection moving bar 1240 as theconnection moving bar 1240 descends.

On the contrary, as illustrated in FIG. 21, when air extraction throughthe air extraction hole of the air cylinder 1231 is stopped, theinternal space on the side of the air extraction hole may change from anegative pressure to an atmospheric pressure in the cylinder body 1231a. As the spring 1232 extends upward, while a lower end of the spring1232 is supported on the fixed plate 1250, to elastically press theconnection moving bar 1240, the connection moving bar 1240 may ascend,and the cylinder driving shaft 1223 a may also ascend in conjunctionwith the ascent of the connection moving bar 1240.

Accordingly, the large driving gear 1223 c may be gear-coupled to thedriven small gear 1223 f, so that the internal cylinder 1210 may rotateat high speed and low torque to effectively dehydrate the blendingobjects in the internal cylinder 1210.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, an additional air cylinder maybe used instead of the spring 1232. For example, ascent and descent ofthe internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a maybe implemented using twoair cylinders disposed in opposing directions.

For reference, among elements not described in FIGS. 20 and 21, the sameelements as those illustrated in FIGS. 17 and are designated by the samereference numerals and descriptions thereof will be omitted.

As a result, the blender according to the present disclosure may have astructure in which the gear-coupled structure of the internal cylinderdriving connection portion 1229 is variable such that the internalcylinder 1210 has different rotational speeds during grinding anddehydration of blending objects, or may include a plurality of internalcylinder driving motors 1228, so that among blending objects rotating ina forward direction due to forward rotation of a grinding blade,blending objects close to an internal side surface of the internalcylinder 1120 may smoothly rotate in a forward direction. In addition,during dehydration of the ground blending objects, the rotational speedof the internal cylinder 1210 may be increased to be as high aspossible, as compared with during grinding of the blending objects, tosignificantly increase a dehydration effect.

In the blender according to the present disclosure, as another example,a pressing member 1230 maybe provided to press the internal cylinderdriving shaft 1223 a until variation of the gear-coupled structure ofthe internal cylinder driving connection portion 1223 is completed. Inthe case in which gear teeth of gears do not engage with each other evenwhen the internal cylinder driving shaft 1223 a moves, the pressingmember 1230 may continuously press the internal cylinder driving shaft1223 a in an axial direction until the variation of the gear-coupledstructure is completed, so that the gears may ultimately engage witheach other while rotating. Accordingly, the gear-coupled structure ofthe internal cylinder connection portion 1223 may completely vary.

FIG. 22 is a view illustrating the inside according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure, in the blender of FIG. 16, andFIGS. 23 and 24 are views illustrating operating states of an internalcylinder driving unit in the blender of FIG. 22.

Referring to the drawings, a blender according to another embodiment mayinclude a blender body 1100 and an internal cylinder unit 1200. Anexternal cylinder 1110, a grinding blade 1120, and a blade drivingportion 1130 of the blender body 1100 and the internal cylinder 1210 ofthe internal cylinder unit 1200 are the same as those of the blenderillustrated in FIG. 17, and thus, detailed descriptions thereof will beomitted. That is, detailed descriptions of the same elements designatedby the same reference numerals will be omitted.

In addition, the internal cylinder unit 1200 may include an internalcylinder driving portion 1220 together with the internal cylinder 1210.In this case, a blade rotation shaft 1131 of a blade driving portion1130 may be axially rotationally mounted in a hollow 122 b formed in aninternal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 of the internal cylinder drivingportion 1220, resulting in the same structure in which the bladerotation shaft 1131 and the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221axially rotate independently.

The internal cylinder driving portion 1220 may include an internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221, an internal cylinder driving motor 1228,and an internal cylinder driving connection portion 1229 connecting theinternal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 and the internal cylinder drivingmotor 1228 to each other.

The internal cylinder driving motor 1228 may be provided with aplurality of internal cylinder driving motors 1228 such that theinternal cylinder 1210 has different rotational speeds during grindingand dehydration of blending objects.

Accordingly, in the present disclosure, a torque is increased byreducing rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 using oneinternal cylinder driving motor 1228 during grinding of the blendingobjects. Thus, among blending objects rotating in a forward directiondue to forward rotation of the grinding blade, blending objects close tothe internal side surface of the internal cylinder 1210 may smoothlyrotate in a reverse direction. In addition, during dehydration of theground blending objects, the rotational speed of the internal cylinder1210 may be increased to be as high as possible using another internalcylinder driving motor 1228, as compared during grinding of the blendingobjects, to significantly increase the dehydration effect.

Specifically, one internal cylinder driving motor 1228 may be a firstmotor supplying rotational driving force to the internal cylinder 1210during grinding of blending objects, and the other internal cylinderdriving motor 1228 may be a second motor M2 supplying rotational drivingforce to the internal cylinder 1210 a direction opposing the first motorM21 during dehydration of the blending objects.

In this case, the internal cylinder driving connection portion 1229 mayhave a structure in which each of the first motor M21 and the secondmotor M22 and the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 are connected ina one-way bearing structure.

For example, the first motor M21 and the internal cylinder rotationshaft 1221 maybe connected to each other in one one-way bearingstructure, and the second motor M22 and the internal cylinder rotationshaft 1221 may be connected to each other in another one-way bearingstructure.

More specifically, the internal cylinder driving connection 1229 mayhave the following structure.

A first driving gear 1229 a may be mounted on the first motor shaft M21a of the first motor M21. A first hollow gear 1229 a, gear-coupled tothe internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 or connected to the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 by a first belt 1229 b or a firs chain, maybe mounted on the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

That is, the first driving gear 1229 a, drivingly connected to the firstdriving gear 1229 a, may be mounted on the first internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221. The first hollow gear 1229 c may be directlygear-coupled to the first driving gear 1229 a. Alternatively, the firsthollow gear 1229 c may be connected to the first driving gear 1229 a bya driving connection member such as a first belt 1229 b or a firstchain.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, an additional intermediateconnection shaft may be further mounted in a driving connectionstructure of a first motor shaft M21 a and the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221. Rotational speed and torque of the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 may be adjusted through an intermediateconnection gear mounted on the intermediate connection shaft anddrivingly connected to the first driving gear 1229 a and the firsthollow gear 1229 c.

A second driving gear 1229 e may be mounted on the second motor shaftM22 a of the second motor M22. A second hollow gear 1229 g, gear-coupledto the second driving gear 1229 e or connected to the second drivinggear 1229 e by a second belt 1229 f or a second chain, may be mounted onthe internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

That is, the second hollow gear 1229 g, drivingly connected to thesecond driving gear 1229 e, may be mounted on the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221. The second hollow gear 1229 g may be directlygear-coupled to the second driving gear 1229 e, or may be connected tothe second driving gear 1229 e by a driving connection member such as asecond belt 1229 f or a second chain.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, an intermediate rotation shaftmay be further mounted in the driving connection structure of the secondmotor shaft M22 a and the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221, as anadditional driving transmission medium. Rotational speed and torque ofthe internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 may be adjusted through anintermediate connection gear mounted on the intermediate rotation shaftand drivingly connected to the second driving gear 1229 e and the secondhollow gear 1229 g.

In addition, a first one-way bearing 1229 d may be mounted between theinternal cylinder rotating shaft 1221 and the first hollow gear 1229 c.

That is, the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 may penetrate throughthe first hollow gear 1229 c, and the first one-way bearing 1229 d mayhave an inner race fixedly coupled to a circumference of the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 and an outer race fixedly coupled to theinside of the first hollow gear 1229 c, between the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 and the first hollow gear 1229 c.

The first one-way bearing 1229 d may simply serve to axiallyrotationally couple the first hollow gear 1229 c and the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 in such a manner that driving force istransmitted from the first hollow gear 1229 c to the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 in one axially rotational direction, but is nottransmitted in an opposing direction.

That is, when the first hollow gear 1229 c axially rotates in onedirection, the first one-way bearing 1229 d may transmit the drivingforce from the first hollow gear 1229 c to the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 such that the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221axially rotates in the one direction in conjunction with the firsthollow gear 1229 c. In addition, when the internal cylinder rotationshaft 1221 rotates in an opposing direction, the first one-way bearing1229 d may not transmit the driving force from the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 to the first hollow gear 1229 c such that the firsthollow gear 1229 c axially rotates in the opposing direction inconjunction with the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

In addition, a second one-way bearing 1229 h may be mounted between theinternal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 and the second hollow gear 1229 g.

That is, the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221 may penetrate throughthe second hollow gear 1229 g, and the second one-way bearing 1229 d mayhave an inner race fixedly coupled to a circumference of the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 and an outer race fixedly coupled to theinside of the second hollow gear 1229 c, between the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 and the second hollow gear 1229 g.

The second one-way bearing 1229 h may simply serve to axiallyrotationally couple the second hollow gear 1229 g and the internalcylinder rotation shaft 1221 in such a manner that driving force istransmitted from the second hollow gear 1229 g to the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 in one axially rotational direction, but is nottransmitted in an opposing direction.

That is, when the second hollow gear 1229 g axially rotates in the otherdirection, the first one-way bearing 1229 h may transmit the drivingforce from the first hollow gear 1229 g to the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 such that the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221axially rotates in the other direction in conjunction with the secondhollow gear 1229 g. In addition, when the internal cylinder rotationshaft 1221 rotates in an opposing direction, the second one-way bearing1229 h may not transmit the driving force from the internal cylinderrotation shaft 1221 to the second hollow gear 1229 g such that thesecond hollow gear 1229 g axially rotates in the opposing direction inconjunction with the internal cylinder rotation shaft 1221.

The first one-way bearing 1229 d and the second one-way bearing 1229 hhave a structure to transmit the driving force only in opposingrotational directions.

Accordingly, even when the first hollow gear 1229 c rotates through thefirst driving gear 1229 a during operation of only the first motor M21,the second hollow gear 1229 g may not rotate and, ultimately, the secondmotor M22 may not be affected. Even when the second hollow gear 1229 grotates through the second driving gear 1229 e during operation of onlythe second motor M22, the first hollow gear 1229 c may not rotate and,ultimately, the first motor M21 may not be affected.

The first motor M21, the second motor M22, and the internal cylinderdriving connection portion 1229 may be configured such that rotationalspeed of the internal cylinder 1210 during dehydration of blendingobject is five times higher than rotational speed of the internalcylinder 1210 during grinding of the blending object.

As a detailed example, the first motor M21, the second motor M22, andthe internal cylinder driving connection portion 1229 may be configuredsuch that the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 is 50 rpmto 350 rpm during grinding of the blending objects and is 1500 rpm to3500 rpm during dehydration of the blending objects.

In the present disclosure, due to the above-described configurations ofthe first motor M21, the second motor M22, and the internal cylinderdriving connection portion 1229, a torque may be increased to be as highas possible by reducing the rotational speed of the internal cylinder120 during grinding of the blending objects, and the rotational speed ofthe internal cylinder 1210 may be increased to be as high as possibleduring dehydration of the blending objects to significantly increase adehydration effect.

The blender according to the present disclosure may further include avacuum unit 1400 configured to establish vacuum in the internal cylinder1210, as illustrated in FIGS. 17 and 22.

The vacuum unit 1400 may include a suction pipe and a vacuum drivingportion 1410.

The suction pipe may be formed inside the blender cover 1140. When theblender cover 1140 covers the external cylinder 1110, the suction pipemay communicate with the internal cylinder 1210 disposed in the externalcylinder 1110 while communicating with the external cylinder 110.

The vacuum driving portion 1410 may be connected to the suction pipe,and may include a vacuum motor and a vacuum pump.

The blender according to the present disclosure may allow a blendingoperation, including a grinding operation and a dehydration operation,to be performed in a vacuum by the above-configured vacuum unit 1400.Thus, blending objects including fruits, vegetables, or the like, may beblended in the state in which the blending objects are not oxidized, sothat fresh and nutrient-undestroyed juice may be obtained.

As a result, the blender according to the present disclosure may have astructure in which a gear-coupled structure of an internal cylinderconnection portion 1229 varies such that the internal cylinder 1210 mayhave different rotational speeds during grinding and dehydration of theblending objects, or may be provided with a plurality of internalcylinder driving motors 1228. Accordingly, a torque is increased whiledecreasing reverse rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210. Thus,among blending objects rotating in a forward direction due to forwardrotation of the grinding blade, blending objects close to the internalside surface of the internal cylinder 1210 may smoothly rotate in areverse direction. In addition, during dehydration of the groundblending objects, the rotational speed of the internal cylinder 1210 maybe increased to be as high as possible, as compared with during grindingof the blending objects, to significantly increase the dehydrationeffect.

FIG. 25 is a longitudinal sectional view illustrating a blenderaccording to another embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 26is a view illustrating an internal cylinder, an internal cylinder cover,and an internal cylinder rotation shaft in the blender of FIG. 25.

Referring to the drawings, a blender according to the present disclosuremay include a blender body 2100 and an internal cylinder unit 2200.

The blender body 2100 may include an external cylinder 2110, a grindingblade 2120, and a blade driving portion 2130.

Specifically, the external cylinder 2110 maybe a cylinder in which theinternal cylinder 2210 of the internal cylinder unit 2200 is disposed,and may have an open top structure. In addition, the external cylinder2110 may be configured to be covered with a blender cover 2140.

The external cylinder 2110 may be seated on a cylinder support case 2300to be described later, so that the external cover 2110 may cover anupper portion of the external cylinder 2110 before the blender cover2140 covers the external cylinder 2110.

The grinding blade 2120 may be disposed in the internal cylinder 2210,and may serve to grind blending objects in the internal cylinder 2210while rotating. In this case, the blending object refers to food groundby an operation of the blender.

The blade driving portion 2130 may be configured to rotate the grindingblade 2120.

The external cylinder 2110 maybe supported by a cylinder support case2300. The cylinder support case 2300 may have an overall L shape, asillustrated in the drawings.

The cylinder support case 2300 may include a lower casing portion 2310,disposed below the external cylinder 2110, and a side casing portion2320 extending upwardly of the lower casing portion 2310 to be connectedto the blender cover 2140.

Specifically, the external cylinder 2110 may be seated on an uppersurface of the lower casing portion 2310 disposed in a traversedirection, and the blender cover 1140 may be hingedly coupled to anupper end of the side casing portion 2320, extending upwardly of thelower casing portion 2310 to be disposed in a longitudinal direction, torotate up and down.

The blade driving portion 2130 and an internal cylinder driving portion2220 to be described later may be mounted in the cylinder support case2300 or the blender cover 2140. When the external cylinder 2110, inwhich the internal cylinder 2210 is embedded, is seated, the grindingblade 2120 and the blade driving portion 2130 maybe connected to eachother to transmit driving force of the blade driving portion 2130 to thegrinding blade 2120 disposed in the internal cylinder 2210, and theinternal cylinder 2210 and the internal cylinder driving portion 2220maybe connected to each other to transmit driving force of the internalcylinder driving portion 2220 to the internal cylinder 2210 mounted inthe external cylinder 2110.

The internal cylinder unit 2200 may include an internal cylinder 2210and an internal cylinder driving portion 2220.

The internal cylinder 2210 maybe mounted in the external cylinder 2110,and an internal cylinder cover 2210 a may cover an upper portion of theinternal cylinder 2210 before the internal cylinder 2210 is seated onthe cylinder support case 2300.

At least one projection 2211 may be formed on the internal side surfaceof the internal cylinder 2210 such that the blending objects, flowingrotationally while being ground by the grinding blade 2120, are caught.

When the grinding blade 2120 rotates while the blending objects areaccommodated in the internal cylinder 2210, the blending objects maycollide against a projection 2211 formed on the internal side surface ofthe internal cylinder 2210, rotating in an opposite direction, togenerate a turbulence of the blending objects. In this case, theturbulence may be increased, so that a grinding effect of the blendingobjects may be increased.

In addition, the projection 1213 may have a screw projection line shapeinducing a downward spiral flow of the blending objects such that theblending objects flow downwardly while rotating in a direction opposingthe rotation direction of the grinding blade 2120 when the grindingblade 2120 and the internal cylinder 2210 rotate in opposing directions.

Specifically, the blending object may flow upwardly while being radiallypushed by centrifugal force generated by the rotation of the grindingblade 2120. The projection 2211, having a screw projection shapeinducing a downward spiral motion of the blending objects, maybeprovided on the internal side surface of the internal cylinder 2210, sothat the blending objects may flow to the grinding blade 2120, disposedon a lower internal portion of the internal cylinder 2210, to furtherincrease the grinding effect of the blender.

In addition, the present disclosure may further include a controller(not illustrated). The controller may be electrically connected to theblade driving portion 2130 and the internal cylinder driving portion2220 to control the blade driving portion 2130 and the internal cylinderdriving portion 2220.

To break a state of balance of the blending objects in the internalcylinder 2210, the controller may control the internal cylinder drivingportion 2220 such that the blending objects are blended while theinternal cylinder 2210 repeatedly rotates reversely and stops in adirection opposing the rotation direction of the grinding blade 2120.

For example, to achieve an irregular flow of the blending objects of theinternal cylinder 2210, the controller may control an internal cylinderdriving motor M2 of the internal cylinder driving portion 2220 torepeatedly perform an operation in which the internal cylinder 2210rotates in a reverse direction opposing the rotation direction of thegrinding blade 2120 and is then stopped.

The internal cylinder 2210 may have a lower portion, rotatably mountedin the blender body 2100, and an upper portion allowing rotationaldriving force of the internal cylinder driving portion 2220 to beprovided to the upper portion of the internal cylinder 2210 inconjunction with the internal cylinder driving portion 2220.

For example, the rotational driving force of the internal cylinderdriving force 2220 may be provided through the upper portion of theinternal cylinder 2210, so that the internal cylinder driving portion2220 rotates the upper portion of the internal cylinder 2210. In thiscase, the lower portion of the internal cylinder 2210 may be rotatablymounted in the blender body 2100 in a bearing structure to rotatetogether when the upper portion of the internal cylinder 2210 rotates.

Hereinafter, a description will be provided as to a detailed structurein which the rotational driving force of the internal cylinder drivingportion 2220 is provided through the upper portion of the internalcylinder 2210.

An internal cylinder cover 2230 of the internal cylinder 2210 may bestructured to cover the internal cylinder 2210 and to be key-coupled tothe internal cylinder 2210.

In this case, the internal cylinder driving portion 220 may be connectedto the internal cylinder cover 2230 to rotate the internal cylindercover 2230, so that the internal cylinder 2210 rotates in conjunctionwith the rotation of the internal cylinder cover 2230.

As an example, the key-coupled structure of the internal cylinder cover2230 and the internal cylinder 2210 maybe formed by forming a pluralityof key grooves 2210 in an end portion of the internal cylinder 2210 tobe spaced apart from each other in a length direction and forming keyprojections 2230 a on the edge of the internal cylinder cover 2230 inpositions, respectively corresponding to the plurality of key grooves2210 a. Accordingly, when the internal cylinder cover 2230 descends onan upper portion of the internal cylinder 2210 to be coupled thereto,the key projections 2230 a may be respectively inserted into theplurality of key grooves 2210 a to be assembled. Thus, when the internalcylinder cover 2230 rotates, the internal cylinder 2210 may rotate inconjunction with the rotation of the internal cylinder cover 2230.

In addition, the key-coupled structure of the internal cylinder cover2230 and the internal cylinder 2210 is not limited to the presentdisclosure. In addition, it will be understood that the key-coupledstructure may employ any conventional key-coupled structure allowing theinternal cylinder 2210 to rotate in conjunction with the rotation theinternal cylinder cover 2230.

The internal cylinder driving portion 2220 may include an internalcylinder driving motor M2 and an internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221.

The internal cylinder driving motor M2 may be mounted in the blenderbody 2100, and the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 maybekey-coupled to the internal cylinder cover 2230 such that when theinternal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 rotates, the internal cylindercover 2230 also rotates in conjunction with the rotation the rotation ofthe internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221.

Specifically, an assembly groove 2230 b having an uneven internal sidesurface may be formed on an upper surface of the internal cylinder cover2230, and an assembly end portion 2221 a having an uneven structurecorresponding to the uneven structure of the assembly groove 2230 bmaybe formed on a lower end of the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221to be inserted into the assembly groove 2230 b of the internal cylindercover 2230 and then assembled to be key-coupled thereto.

The internal cylinder driving portion 2220 may further include a shaftconnection member 2222. The shaft connection member 2222 may connect amotor shaft of the internal cylinder driving motor M2 and the internalcylinder rotation shaft 2221 to each other, serving to transmitrotational driving force from the motor shaft to the internal cylinderrotation shaft 2221.

The shaft connection member 2222 may include at least one of a gearconnection shaft and a connection belt. In this case, each of the atleast one gear connection shaft and the at least one connection belt maybe disposed.

As an example, as illustrated in FIG. 25, the shaft connection member2222 may include a first gear connection shaft 2222 a, having a left endportion gear-connected to an upper end portion of the internal cylinderrotation shaft 2221, and a second gear connection shaft 222 b having anupper end portion gear-connected to a right end portion of the firstgear connection shaft 2222 a and a lower end portion gear-connected tothe motor shaft of the internal cylinder motor M2.

In this case, a bevel gear for the gear connection structure may beformed on each of the upper end portion of the internal cylinderrotation shaft 2221, the left end portion and the right end portion ofthe first gear connection shaft 2222 a, and the upper end portion andthe lower end portion of the second gear connection shaft 2222 b.

As another example, the shaft connection member 2222 may employ a firstconnection belt 2222 a′, an intermediate connection shaft 2222 b′, and asecond connection belt 2222′ illustrated in FIG. 27, instead of thefirst gear connection shaft 2222 a and the second gear connection shaft2222 b illustrated in FIG. 25. Of course, a timing gear may be formed onupper end portions of the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 and theinternal cylinder driving motor M2 and upper and lower end portions ofthe intermediate connection shaft 2222 b′ to transmit driving forcewhile rotating in the state in which the first connection belt 2222 a′and the second connection belt 2222 c′ are wound. In this case, each ofthe first and second connection belts 2222 a′ and 2222 c′ may employ atiming belt. For reference, among elements not described in FIG. 27, thesame elements as those illustrated in FIG. 25 are designated by the samereference numerals and descriptions thereof will be omitted.

The external cylinder 2110 of the blender body 2100 may be opened andclosed by an external cylinder cover 2110 a, and the internal cylinderrotation shaft 2221 may penetrate through the external cylinder cover2110 a and may rotate independently of the external cylinder cover 2110a.

In this case, the blade rotation shaft 2131 of the blade driving portion2130 may penetrate through lower portions of the internal cylinder 2210and the external cylinder 2110, and the lower portion of the internalcylinder 2210 may be connected to the lower portion of the externalcylinder 2110 or the blade rotation shaft 2131 by a bearing.

As an example, the internal cylinder 2210 may have a structure in whichthe lower portion of the internal cylinder 2210 is connected to thelower portion of the external cylinder 2110 by a bearing 2B to rotate inan idle state.

The internal cylinder driving motor M2 may be disposed above or belowthe internal cylinder 2210. Alternatively, the internal cylinder drivingmotor M2 may be disposed on a side of the internal cylinder 2210.

Specifically, the internal cylinder driving motor M2 may be structuredto be connected to the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 or theshaft connection member 2222. As another example, the internal cylinderdriving motor M2 may be embedded in a lower casing portion 2310 of acylinder support case 2300 disposed below the internal cylinder 2210. Asanother example, the internal cylinder driving motor M2 may be embeddedin a side casing portion 2320 of the cylinder support case 2300 disposedon a side of the internal cylinder 2210.

In the present disclosure, a vacuum unit 2400 may be further provided.The vacuum unit 2400 may include a vacuum driving portion 2410 and asuction pipe 2420.

The vacuum driving portion 2410 may include a vacuum motor and a vacuumpump providing air suction force, and may be embedded in the side casingportion 2320. One side of the suction pipe 2420 may be connected to thevacuum driving portion 2410, and the other side of the suction pipe 2420may communicate with the internal cylinder 2210 through a blender cover2140.

In this case, each of the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 and theinternal cylinder cover 2230 may be provided with a suction hole (notillustrated) formed in a central portion thereof. Although notillustrated in the drawing, the suction pipe 2420 may be rotatablyconnected to an upper end of the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221to suction air in the internal cylinder 2210 through the suction hole ofeach of the internal cylinder rotation shaft 2221 and the internalcylinder cover 2230, allowing an inside of the internal cylinder 2210 tobe vacuum. Of course, such a vacuum operation may be performed beforethe internal cylinder 2210 and the grinding blade 2120 rotate.

In conclusion, the internal cylinder 2210 of the blender according tothe present disclosure may be configured such that a lower portion ofthe internal cylinder 2210 is idle-rotationally mounted in the mixerbody 2100 and rotational driving force of the internal cylinder drivingportion 2220 is provided to an upper portion of the internal cylinder2210 in conjunction with the internal cylinder riving portion 2220. As aresult, grinding performance of blending objects may be improved.

1. A blender comprising: a blender body including an external cylinder,a grinding blade, and a blade driving portion rotating the grindingblade; an internal cylinder unit including an internal cylinder,disposed in the external cylinder, in which the grinding blade isdisposed, and an internal cylinder driving portion rotating the internalcylinder; and a controller electrically connected to the blade drivingportion and the internal cylinder driving portion to control the bladedriving portion and the internal cylinder driving portion, wherein theinternal cylinder has an internal side surface on which a projection isformed such that blending objects, flowing rotationally while beingground by the grinding blade, are caught, and wherein the controllercontrols the internal cylinder driving portion to blend the blendingobjects while repeating an operating pattern, in which the internalcylinder rotates reversely in a direction opposing a rotation directionof the grinding blade and is then stopped, or an operating pattern, inwhich the internal cylinder rotates reversely and then changesrotational speed, to break a state of balance of the blending objects inthe internal cylinder.
 2. The blender of claim 1, wherein the controllercontrols the internal cylinder driving portion and the blade drivingportion to rotate the internal cylinder and then to rotate the grindingblade.
 3. The blender of claim 1, wherein the controller controls theblade driving portion to stop the grinding blade at least once duringrotation of the internal cylinder and the grinding blade
 4. The blenderof claim 1, wherein the projection has a screw projection line shapeinducing a downward spiral flow of the blending objects such that theblending objects flow downwardly while rotating in a direction opposingthe rotation direction of the grinding blade when the grinding blade andthe internal cylinder rotate in opposing directions.
 5. The blender ofclaim 4, wherein a guide portion is formed below the projection,disposed in a side direction of the grinding blade, to slidably guidethe blending objects to a center of the internal cylinder such that theblending objects are prevented from being caught between the grindingblade and the projection.
 6. The blender of claim 5, wherein the guideportion is formed between a lower surface of the projection and aninternal lower surface of the internal cylinder and is provided with aslide surface, and wherein the slide surface extends inwardly of therotation cylinder from an internal side surface of the internalcylinder, and is tilted in the internal direction of the grinding bladewhen the grinding blade and the internal cylinder rotate in opposingdirections.
 7. The blender of claim 6, wherein a central side edge ofthe rotation cylinder is curved on the slide surface in the internaldirection of the grinding blade when the grinding blade and the internalcylinder rotate in opposing directions.
 8. The blender of claim 6,wherein the projection protrudes from the internal side surface of theinternal cylinder to the center of the internal cylinder, and is tiltedin the rotation direction of the internal cylinder when the grindingblade and the internal cylinder rotate in opposing directions.
 9. Theblender of claim 1, wherein both the blade driving portion and theinternal cylinder driving portion are disposed below the internalcylinder, or the blade driving portion is disposed below the internalcylinder and the internal cylinder driving portion is disposed above theinternal cylinder.
 10. The blender of claim 1, wherein the internalcylinder has a side portion in which a plurality of drain holes areformed to dehydrate the blending objects during rotation of the internalcylinder.
 11. The blender of claim 10, wherein the external cylinder hasa lower potion on which a discharge pipe is formed to discharge liquid,formed by dehydrating the blending objects, to an outside of theblender.
 12. The blender of claim 1, further comprising: a vacuum unitmounted in the blender body and configured to establish vacuum in theinternal cylinder.
 13. The blender of claim 12, wherein the vacuum unitcomprises: a suction pipe communicating with the internal cylinder; anda vacuum driving portion communicating with the suction pipe.
 14. Theblender of claim 1, wherein a blade rotation shaft of the blade drivingportion is axially rotationally mounted in a hollow, formed in aninternal cylinder rotation shaft of the internal cylinder drivingportion, such that the blade rotation shaft and the internal cylinderrotation shaft axially rotate independently.